Water cooling

[Ikthezeus]

Hey guys,

anyone got any info on the new Zalman Reserator XT?
I was going to get the Reserator 2 but saw they had brought out the XT so now not sure which to get....any ideas?? lol
I'm after powerful cooling and silent (as near as poss) running, hence the Reserator 2, anyone know if the XT is as good as or better than the Reserator 2?

Cheers guys!!

Tom.

[dfour]

What are you cooling??

[mildlyAmused]

I don't know if I'd use another Reserator setup for cooling anything like a C2D. I'm using a Reserator 1 now for my old 4800+ processor and whilst it's silent, the cooling isn't fantastic. Maybe with the XT being active rather than passive, performance might be better. But you'd lose the absolute silence you get with the passive gear.

[cotswoldcs]

The Reserator XT is an active/passive watercooling option. It has a 140mm fan which AFAIK can be turned off or on (variable speed). The reservoir is the same size as the Reserator 1 & 2 but it looks to me like a smaller unit that is meant to sit on top of the case (rather like the Corsair Nautilus).

I'm a fan of Zalman's Reserator products and currently have a Reserator 1 plus. It adequately cools my P4 3.0Ghz Northwood @ 3.4Ghz & GeForce 6600GT. I would definitely consider a Reserator as an option for my next build as it offers good cooling at near silence! For me a quiet computer is an essential requirement ...but then so is performance. The Reserator gives me both so I'm happy.

I have seen reviews of the Reserator 2 and it can cope with a P4 Prescott 3.6Ghz & 6800XT GPU and another review that used an overclocked C2D 6700 & ATI 1900GT with excellent results. IMO the Reserator 2 XT will be more than adequate for a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad setup. If you have a powerful DX10 graphics card then you will need a fancy extra waterblock for it (£50-60 depending on card & waterblock manufacturer) and you will probably need to use the fan on the Reserator 2 XT.

Reserator 2 Reviews:
http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Zalm...ew/3851-1.html
http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/zalmanreserator2/


There will always be a LOT of people who don't rate the Reserator but at the end of the day if silence is of primary concern then the Reserator is an excellent product. If silence is of secondary concern then forget it as an option - there are way better ways to cool a PC.

As my Reserator runs passively it is somewhat dependent on ambient room temperature and thankfully (or not!) the room temperature never gets too high to be of any concern. People in USA seem to struggle in the summer keeping their CPU temps low!

So would I recommend the Reserator 2 XT? Well it may be just for you but consider the cost.

Reserator 1 Plus £152.74 (Scan) (£160 QuietPC)
Reserator 2 £200 (QuietPC)
Reserator XT £270 (QuietPC)

It's not cheap! This has led me to consider keeping my current Reserator 1 Plus to cool the CPU and adding another 1 Plus or Reserator 2 to cool the GPU and possibly the NorthBridge & Memory !!!

Think I'm crazy? Well maybe. Does it make sense? Probably not but do I care? Well maybe actually. Let me know if you think this is a really bad idea.

Of course the other option is to build your own watercooling kit but this requires a bit more expertise and knowledge. The Reserator XT is the easy option just not the cheapest...


Anyway I hope this bit of info helps you make a decision.

[Steve B]

if silence is a major concern, get a tuniq 120 and strap a silent fan to it
it'll give you a damn sight better performance than the reserator

[Ikthezeus]

dfour - I'm thinking about AMD socket F CPU, as I'm starting to plan out a powerhouse gaming rig.

cotswoldcs - thanks! Silence is my primary concern as atm I'm not bothered about OCing my CPU.

Cheers guys!

[cotswoldcs]

The Core 2 Duo CPUs run pretty cool and will outperform AMD CPUs at the same price point. I would recommend going down the Intel route considering what you have in mind.

[Ikthezeus]

Hmmmm, it's been a good few years since I seriously checked out AMD vs Intel CPUs and all the reviews I have read previously seem to indicate AMD outperforming Intel on gaming benchmarks. How long ago did the balance shift to Intel cotswoldcs? Also what about quad cores? Btw I probably should have mentioned needs to be a 64bit CPU as well lol!

[cotswoldcs]

Basically the day that Intel released its first Core2Duo CPU AMD lost the performance crown. Virtually all reviews since have indicated that despite AMD price cuts Intel remains the better choice. Low Thermal Dynamic Power (TDP), great performance and room for overclocking all points towards the Intel CPU.

If you've been out of the loop for a while you probably hadn't realised that despite AMD buying ATI, the graphics giant they are struggling to compete and market share and profitability have both slid dramatically.

Whilst people consider AMD for a low end system most enthusiasts are buying Intel's C2D and C2Q CPUs. Both the Duo and the Quad are 64 bit CPUs - the only difference being the number of cores. Your choice depends on what you use your computer for as for example you can buy a 3.0Ghz 6750 Core2Duo for about the same price as the 2.66Ghz Core2Quad. In performance tests the two CPUs perform well, with one outperforming the other in performance charts, depending on which test it is.

My recommendation would be to go quad core with the Q6600 chip your best bet. Whilst the C2D 6750 will outperform in some areas and boasts a higher FSB (1333 vs 1066Mhz) the Quad will give you a more future-proof CPU as newer software takes advantage of the extra cores. Plus the Quad overclocks better than the Duo. Go for the G0 stepping version from Scan if you're planning of overclocking to get even more performance from the CPU.

Don't forget that if you go for a 64bit CPU you'll need a 64bit OS to get the best out of it. The logical choice would be Vista 64bit (Home Premium or Ultimate) but this is another contentious area (well certainly if you ask Clunk for advice anyway ) as some users don't rate Vista. I have to admit that I am in this group and it is the only reason why I have been putting off purchasing a new PC. I dual boot with Vista and really am not yet convinced of its merits. However, a new PC purchase would swing the balance for me and if I were to buy a quad core setup I'd buy Vista 64bit.

This is a great place to get advice from and Hexus' reviews on components are also well worth a read. Come back with any questions you have.

[Ikthezeus]

Thanks cotswoldcs!

My old rig is about 6 years old now, but I'm running Vista 64bit Ultimate, as when I built it I put in an Athlon 64 3200+, so it still goes, just not as well as I would like nowadays!! Nor as well as HL2 would like it to! hehe.
How stable are the C2Q CPUs? As when I built this rig there were a few issues with Intel CPUs stability under load (ie they kept locking up without any intervention from Win XP lol).

[ed^chigliak]

Heat was a problem with faster P4 CPUs hence unreliable at 100% load without top notch cooling. The new C2D CPUs don't get anything like as hot as a P4 and actually these days Intel are running cooler than AMDs equivalent offerings.

I have built a couple of E6300s on Gigabyte DS3 boards with the solid capacitors and they are reliable PCs without any instability issues. Coolers have gotten alot better with all the big heat pipe stuff available these days. At no point is heat going to be a problem with either AMD or Intel. I'm going to be sticking Scythe mine coolers on any new builts. I was using the arctic freezer pro coolers.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

i am a noob at water cooling and i am looking for some tips. is it best to build your own custom made water cooling kits or are full blown kits better? also if i spil some of the fluid on the mobo, does it completely mess it up or is it safe IF i am using this none cundictive UV fluid http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=548368

also how often do i have to change or clean out the fluid inside the kit? cheers

[Pie_uk]

i am a noob at water cooling and i am looking for some tips. is it best to build your own custom made water cooling kits or are full blown kits better? also if i spil some of the fluid on the mobo, does it completely mess it up or is it safe IF i am using this none cundictive UV fluid http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=548368

also how often do i have to change or clean out the fluid inside the kit? cheers

hi j.o.s.h.1408

pre built kits are good if you are not confident enough to spec one up, provided you get the right pre built kit they can be excellent (such as the swiftech ones) also swiftech have just released a micro water cooling kit which looks very nice.

http://www.swiftnets.com/

if you would prefer to build one you're self let me know what you want to cool, how much room you have and how much money, i can help you out.

as for non-conductive Liquid, at the end of the day if any liquid gets on the board its not good news. no coolant is 100% non-conductive* but its certainly restricted in carrying much current. so if a spill does occur, you should dry out the component or rub 80% alcohol and then leave it for a couple of days for good measure, since pcb is made up of layers you need to be sure that it is dry before turning it back on.

tbh as long as you take you're time and use worm drives on the barbs you really cant go wrong. about 6 months back, i went for it and it was easier than i thought. its weird when you fill the loop up though lol seems a bit strange that you can see water in your pc.

as for coolant life and changing coolant, i had some feser one smoothy water thats ore mixed and ready to go, i had it in my system for 5 months and there was never a need to change it and when i finally did empty it due to gouing for a mATX setup, it was as good as it was the day i filled her up !!

if you go with de inonized and some zerex then i would change it every 3 months or when it looks "bitty".

pie

[Ikthezeus]

thanks ed^chigliak!!
guess all that remains now is to spec out the rest of the rig lol!!

[Ikthezeus]

Although, I may wait a while and see what developments there are on the 45nm chips lol

[Thor]

Ikthezeus & j.o.s.h.1408:
It's not that hard to put together your own watercooling solution once you know the basics and they should work out better than all-in-one kits like the Zalman Reserator XT. I used to have the Zalman Reserator 1 (well still do, it's in the garage atm where all my old pc junk goes, heh) cooling my old P4 Northwood kit and it was Dead Silent, but I knew it wouldn't cope with a C2D setup with 8800GTX in tow, let alone my new Q6600, so I went custom cooling. This is the kit that I use atm for cooling my Overclocked Q6600, 8800GTX & Mobo:

CPU Waterblock: Swiftech Apogee GTX CPU Waterblock @ £40.29
GPU Block: EK 8800GTX GPU Watercooling Block @ £52.15
Radiator: ThermoChill PA120.3 @ £53.96
>With 3x 120mm fans: Scythe S-FLEX 120mm Fan (1200 RPM, SFF21E) @ £12.33 each (£36.99)
>>With 2x 3/8" ThermoChill 1/2" Barb's @ £1.99 each (£3.98)
Pump: Laing DDC 12V ULTRA Pump & Plexitop @ £61.75
Reservoir: EK Multioption Res 150 @ £23.49 (I did initially have a bay reservoir but the constant swooshing noise was driving me mad so I swapped it out for one of these and Viola, no swoosh, but it does create a nice whirlpool effect in the Reservoir now, heh)
Misc: 1/4" BSP Delrin L Block (excluding barbs) @ £4.94 each (for a sharp L Bend)
Barbs: EK 1/2" High Flow Barb @ £1.59 each (By far the easiest barb to put tubing on, imho)
Tubing: 7/16" ID (5/8" OD) Masterkleer PVC Tubing @ £1.05 per foot (Snug fit so no hose clamps required) - The average system requires about 6 foot of tubing.
Coolant: Smoothy F1 Water 1Lt UV Invisible Blue @ £6.98 (Other Colours available)
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound @ £4.50

>Now, all that might not fit in your chosen case but some people have mounted their rad's on the top of their cases. (Case Modification might be required)

The cooling solution is Silent btw just like the Reserator was.

This is how all that looks inside my case: